French ports including Calais, Dunkirk and Le Havre are set to be included in a valuable EU trade corridor after Brexit following protests from the country’s politicians.
The European Parliament and EU capitals have met France’s pleas for its terminals to be earmarked to ship freight from Ireland to the Continent after the U.K. exits the EU, after the European Commission left the country out of its plans.
As POLITICO reported exclusively in August, a proposal to redirect the EU’s strategic transport corridor sought to connect ports at Dublin and Cork with the Belgian harbors of Zeebrugge and Antwerp, and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
EU countries Wednesday agreed to amend that plan, with two diplomats stating French ports would now be included. Countries also want terminals at Amsterdam and Ghent to be included as they meet the EU’s “core port” classification, one diplomat said.
“The Council mandate amends the Commission proposal in particular regarding the selection of ports to ensure the EU27 link to Ireland in the North Sea-Mediterranean core network corridor,” said the Council in a statement.
The new routing for the North Sea-Mediterranean corridor will see billions of euros worth of trade, which currently moves overland through the U.K., redirected, with designated ports eligible for money from the EU budget.
French Green MEP and chair of the Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee Karima Delli already secured support in Parliament for her plan to allow French terminals to access the EU funding.
Delli met negotiators from the Council Wednesday evening for initial talks on the final text, with the next meeting scheduled February 7. A Council spokesperson declined to confirm which ports have the backing of EU countries.
The Commission said in the summer that its proposal was based on existing traffic flows through core ports — with services already running from Dublin and Cork to Rotterdam, Antwerp and Zeebrugge.
However, that prompted a heavy lobbying effort from Paris. Xavier Bertrand, the president of the Calais region in France, said the plan was “scandalous and unacceptable,” and Transport Minister Élisabeth Borne said it “must be reviewed.”
Some 80 percent of Ireland’s exports to the EU currently flow through Britain.
“There could be contingency routes like Dublin to Antwerp, but the closest country becomes France after Brexit,” said a Parliament official. “Ports in Brittany are the closest to the big harbors of Ireland. For us, it’s as obvious as it gets.”
The existing EU trade corridor runs from Edinburgh and Ireland through the British ports of Liverpool, Southampton, Felixstowe and Dover, before crossing to Calais and Dunkirk, in addition to Zeebrugge, Antwerp and Rotterdam.
In its preparations for a no-deal Brexit, the British government has targeted emergency ferry services from the U.K. to ports in France, such as Roscoff and Cherbourg, as well as Ostend in Belgium.
Earlier this month, the French government made €50 million available to harbors and airports for no-deal contingency work to be carried out.